Roman invasion of Britain

Claudius needed achievements that could be stamped into Rome’s memory. In 43 CE, he chose Britain—rich in metal, prestige, and the allure of finishing Julius Caesar’s unfinished business. Aulus Plautius, a seasoned commander, took the army across the narrow sea. Galleys creaked and slapped through the Channel’s chop; standards flashed bronze against a slate sky [14].

The force established a foothold, fought its way inland, and advanced toward Camulodunum, a chief city of the southeast tribes. Claudius traveled to join the decisive moment, not as field general but as emperor to reap the surrender. The scene mattered: an elephant in procession, laurel crowns, banners snapping. Britain’s oak and laurel were to be transplanted to the Palatine’s gardens of glory [14].

The campaign did not end in a week. Garrisons needed planting; roads needed cutting; resistance needed grinding down. But Rome knew how to narrate victory while doing the work of consolidation. Back home, plans began for arches, inscriptions, and coin types that would translate distant mud and blood into gold and marble [12][18].

On the Thames, hammers rang as forts took shape; in Rome, engravers prepared dies. The conquest’s first phase belonged to soldiers and surveyors in Britannia; the second to mintmasters and magistrates in the Forum. Claudius’ presence at Camulodunum gave the story its focal image: the emperor among standards, receiving a city [12][14].

Britain’s addition to the map brought new names into Roman mouths—Camulodunum, later Colonia Claudia; Londinium; Verulamium—and new revenues into Roman accounts. Claudius could present himself as both clerk and conqueror, a pair that flattered his origin story and secured his future.